In this forum we cover traction alopecia a lot because men usually don't know that braids & cornrows can cause it. This picture of Snoop Dogg's hair loss shows what years of wearing tight cornrows & braids can do to the forehead hairline, it makes it disappear!
Snoop Dogg usually would tie his long kinky curly hair in cornrows or braids & he would wear them for long periods without giving his hair follicles a rest.Traction alopecia is caused by tying the hair too tight with ponytails, braids or cornrows which causes the hair follicles to be weakened & damaged - in some cases even ripped out before the life cycle of the the hair strand is over.

Snoop Dogg is probably going bald too cause of the deeper receding on the middle but the the tightening of his hairstyles has been key for his weird looking hairline now.

(07-03-2014 03:27 PM)Stylish Brotha Wrote: I've noticed this in alot of my family members who still choose to wear the style despite most of their hairline being non-existent.

Yeah this is an issue and even with black women. I have spoken to a lot of our black male clients at our barbershop and they have told us some bad stories of their mothers and aunties destroying their hairline from years of wearing braids and cornrows. I think cornrows look really good especially for black guys but Imo there should be some rest in between to let the follicles rest and get stronger.

Also good nutrition is really important. I just replied to a question of yours on the curly hair book and saw that you also got it. There is a huge amount of nutrition information for you hair in the books, it is really valuable and Imo even more important than using products for the hair or at least for long term hair health. Its target to the follicles so stuff like some vitamins and minerals are great to keep the follicles strong. If the hair breaks... it is Ok because it just grows again. But if the follicles are damaged then you are screwed up.

(08-20-2014 05:45 AM)Vladimir Wrote: *** so traction alopecia can really screw up your hairline that bad? with my thinning I wold not think for a second to be pulling my hair and what not but god his hairline is way back to his ears.

Oh yeah. There are countless examples of the damage that traction alopecia creates on the scalp. These examples usually come from black females who braid their hair and then keep it tied tight. We posted an example in the forum some time ago of a little girl with vast traction alopecia from keeping tight braids on.

The thing is that the damage to the hair follicle doesn't hurt by itself (it does create a stingy burning sensation in the scalp), so you essentially rip your hair off and damage the follicle progressively without realizing until you see bald patches on your hairline. By then, it's usually too late. Snoop Dogg has been braiding his hair tight for decades, so it's only normal his hairline would take a heavy beating.

Mmm I remember reading that too from Rogelio. I think it was in his mens hair book. He said about hats that they can damage the individual hairs tho and not so much the follicles. Because the hat is worn hard and tight around, the head then you can get breakage of the individual hairs that happens to be where you fit the hat on your head.

I guess you would also get some traction alopecia but what I understood from him was that it was more the damaging of the hair around the head where the hat is tightened hard. Maybe someone else can comment on this too.